Development of new promising antimetabolite, DFP-11207 with self-controlled toxicity in rodents.

To reduce 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-induced serious toxicities without loss of antitumor activity, we have developed DFP-11207, a novel fluoropyrimidine, which consists of 1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil (EM-FU; a precursor form of 5-FU), 5-chloro-2,4-dihydroxypyridine (CDHP; an inhibitor of 5-FU degradation), and citrazinic acid (CTA; an inhibitor of 5-FU phosphorylation). In vitro studies of DFP-11207 indicated that it strongly inhibited the degradation of 5-FU by dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) in homogenates of the rat liver, and also inhibited the phosphorylation of 5-FU by orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT) in tumor tissues in a similar magnitude of potency by CDHP and CTA, respectively. Especially, DFP-11207 inhibited the intracellular phosphorylation of 5-FU in tumor cells in a dose-dependent manner whereas CTA alone did not protect intracellular 5-FU phosphorylation. These results postulate that DFP-11207 rapidly entered into the cell and the free CTA produced from DFP-11207 inhibited the phosphorylation of 5-FU in the cell. Furthermore, following oral administration of DFP-11207, CTA was found to be highly retained in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract compared to other tissues in rats. Interestingly, EM-FU, the prodrug of 5-FU was found to specifically produce 5-FU by various species of liver microsomes. When DFP-11207 was administered to rats, the plasma level of 5-FU was persisted for a long-time with lower Cmax and longer half-life than that from other 5-FU prodrugs. The antitumor activity of DFP-11207 was evaluated in human tumor xenografts in nude rats and found that DFP-11207 showed an antitumor activity in a dose-dependent fashion and its efficacy is equivalent to reference 5-FU drugs. In striking contrast, DFP-11207 manifested no or less 5-FU-related toxicities, such as a decrease in body weights, GI injury, and myelosuppression, especially thrombocytopenia. Taken together, the preclinical evaluation of DFP-11207 strongly indicates that DFP-11207 be a potential new version of the oral fluoropyrimidine prodrug for further clinical development.

Citation

Masakazu Fukushima, Kenzo Iizuka, Cheng Jin, Chun Zhang, Mei Hong, Kiyoshi Eshima. Development of new promising antimetabolite, DFP-11207 with self-controlled toxicity in rodents. Drug design, development and therapy. 2017;11:1693-1705

PMID: 28652707

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